Duplicating existing system drive to new SSD

[Tidwells@aol.com]

I'm getting ready to replace the original SSD in my 2012 Mac Mini 6.2. I want to stick with the OS (Mavericks) on the original SSD and "clone" it all to the new larger SSD. In the old days I used to do this with Carbon Copy Cloner, but I don't think it's available for free anymore. I use an external USB spinner drive for Time Machine backup. Will I get good results if I just install the new SSD blank and then do a "system restore" from the Time Machine backup? I use this machine exclusively for DP (with MachFive3 and Garritan Personal Orchestra) and nothing else and keep it quarantined from the internet with wifi turned off. It's very reliable and rarely crashes, I'm just running out of space.

Doug

[mikehalloran]

I'm getting ready to replace the original SSD in my 2012 Mac Mini 6.2. I want to stick with the OS (Mavericks) on the original SSD and "clone" it all to the new larger SSD. In the old days I used to do this with Carbon Copy Cloner, but I don't think it's available for free anymore. I use an external USB spinner drive for Time Machine backup. Will I get good results if I just install the new SSD blank and then do a "system restore" from the Time Machine backup? I use this machine exclusively for DP (with MachFive3 and Garritan Personal Orchestra) and nothing else and keep it quarantined from the internet with wifi turned off. It's very reliable and rarely crashes, I'm just running out of space.

Doug

CCC is an API for Disk Utility and that is all. It copies but does not “clone” and never did. It can’t install the macOS properly since 10.4 and won’t create a recovery partition.

You have an external drive dock or enclosure, right? Install the new drive in it. Download the Mavericks installer from Apple and install on the new drive. Now you can boot from the new drive and use Migration Assistant (it will prompt you on startup) to pull everything over from the old drive or Time Machine—from the old drive is usually faster.

When done, install the new drive into the Mini. Replace the battery while you are in there if it has one.

The installation should go smoothly. If not, it’s because of a Security measure—I don’t recall which OS first saw it—definitely by El Cap. If so, you will need to disconnect from the internet, boot into the Repair/Recovery Partition, use Terminal to reset your System Clock back ten years, reboot and install Mavericks onto the new drive. Once done, reconnecting to the internet will update the System Clock. I have instructions if this is necessary.

You will need TRIM Enabler from Cindori. The simple Terminal Command doesn’t work before Yosemite 10.10.4. TRIM cannot be enabled on an external drive over USB or FireWire so run it after the the drive is installed. You can unblock TRIM with the free version.
https://cindori.com/

[Tidwells@aol.com]

Thanks, Mike! Much appreciated advice....

Doug

[mikehalloran]

My info on Cindori is outdated. Trim Enabler 3 is needed for Mavericks and can be downloaded here:

https://cindori.com/support/trim-enable ... r-versions

If you have any issue making TE3 work without purchasing a license for TE4 first, send me a PM. I had the basic functionality working in TE3.5 before I paid. If you think the rest of the included utilities are useful, then pay the $14.95 for TE4 then request a TE3 license and they will it send to you.

TRIM is part of the macOS since 10.6.8 but Apple blocks it from working on 2.5" SSDs (something Apple never used). From 10.14.4 on, the following Terminal Command removes the block and TE4 is unnecessary, sudo trimforce enable

[James Steele]

My info on Cindori is outdated. Trim Enabler 3 is needed for Mavericks and can be downloaded here:

https://cindori.com/support/trim-enable ... r-versions

If you have any issue making TE3 work without purchasing a license for TE4 first, send me a PM. I had the basic functionality working in TE3.5 before I paid. If you think the rest of the included utilities are useful, then pay the $14.95 for TE4 then request a TE3 license and they will it send to you.

TRIM is part of the macOS since 10.6.8 but Apple blocks it from working on 2.5" SSDs (something Apple never used). From 10.14.4 on, the following Terminal Command removes the block and TE4 is unnecessary, sudo trimforce enable

Hmmmm. This might explain why I’m having issues on my Mac with macOS 13. I have a 2.5” SSD in there and it seems like any operation involving disk access is becoming very slow. I don’t think the terminal command is “sticking.” I’ll have to try TE.

[Tidwells@aol.com]

Hi, Mike! I'm stuck on the first step of your instructions: download the Mavericks installer from Apple. I cannot find it and Google searches tell me the only way to get it is from a third party site. Do you know of a trusted one?

Doug

[mikehalloran]

Hi, Mike! I'm stuck on the first step of your instructions: download the Mavericks installer from Apple. I cannot find it and Google searches tell me the only way to get it is from a third party site. Do you know of a trusted one?

Doug

There's a way to get it from Apple but not to worry, I have it. PM me with your email address and I'll put it in DropBox or GoogleDrive for you.

[mikehalloran]

Followup

Doug reports that everything is working:

Apple makes every macOS going back to 10.7 free to download. There are a few different ways but for straight downloads look at this Apple Support page:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662

Somehow, they overlooked OS 10.9, Mavericks — oops! The link on this page worked when I clicked on ZIP. Also, the site talks about a few extraction and installation issues including resetting the clock if needed.

https://archive.org/details/install-os-x-mavericks.app

Turns out that, though the Cindori site says that only Trim Enabler v.2 unblocks TRIM for free, v.3 still does it, just as I remembered. Yeah, they want to sell you v.4 but it's not necessary beginning with Yosemite 10.10.4 as this Terminal Command gets the job done: sudo trimforce enable